June 8, 2009

Adult cutthroat trout in the Salt River watershed were tracked from September-October 2005 until August 2006 using implanted radio transmitters. The fish were caught in the main river stem, spent October-March largely sedentery in pools, started to move more in April and then increased May-June for the spawning season, when 44% of the 43 fish remained in Salt River in April 2006, 37% moved to mountain streams, and 19% into spring streams, almost all preferring streams with manmade pools and gravel-cobble riffles. The fish didn’t use streams that dewatered in the summer or were blocked by manmade barriers.

March 18, 2009

In the 1990s, there was a 90% decline in horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) egg availability due to a 10-fold increase in harvesting for bait, resulting in a decline in body weight of their predator the red knot (Calidris canutus rufa), which congregates in the Delaware Bay every May to feed on the eggs. Between 1997 and 2007 red knots declined by 75%, and the proportion weighing more than 180g by their usual departure from the Bay (26th-28th May) decreased from 0.6-0.8 to 0.14-0.4. The horseshoe crab harvest has continued to increase despite restrictions, and red knots are not recovering.